90 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



venieiit kind of house, open to the south, and sheltered from 

 the sun and the storm. 



1st. The bottom board is made of one-and-a-half inch stuff, 

 and is bevelled at its front edge, so that the upper side, on 

 which the hive rests, is fourteen and one half inches wide, 

 and the bottom is fifteen and one half inches wide. The ob- 

 ject of the bevel is, that the rain which may beat against the 

 front of the hive, may easily run off. The length of the bot- 

 tom board is thirty-one inches, inclusive of a stout cleet at each 

 end, to prevent warping. In the front centre of it is the door- 

 way for the bees to enter and leave, six inches long, and three- 

 eighths of an inch high. This commences at the lower front 

 bevel edge of the bottom board, and slanting upwards and in- 

 wards, opens out into the hive, just within the inside of the 

 front board of the hive. This in7ier opening of the door-way 

 is made rather full and spreading, so as to give room for the 

 bees entering with their loads, to separate easily in the several 

 directions into which they may happen to take their supplies. 

 It is made small at the outside, so that the bees may the more 

 readily be able to defend themselves against their enemies. 



2d. The central and main hive is twelve inches by twelve 

 inches in area, and is twenty inches high, reckoning from the 

 upper side of the bottom board on which it rests, to the under- 

 side of the top cover, which top cover, made of seven-eighths 

 stuff, is just so much larger than the central hive as to allow a 

 projection three quarters of an inch all round. This top must 

 be firmly nailed on, driving the nails a little slanting, to get a 

 better hold. The twenty inches height of this central hive, is 

 divided into two rooms, by a seven-eighths piece of stuff, 

 through which six holes, one inch bore, are made, to lead from 

 the lower to the upper room, and over which holes,* large pint 

 tumblers or boxes may be placed for the bees to build in. What 

 they may here deposit, you may take for rent any time when 

 full. The upper room is nine, and the lower room is ten and 

 one-eighth inches high. The inside and roof of this lower 

 room must not be planed too smoothly. A little roughness 



* Keep these holes open in winter, and tumblers over them, to collect the steamy mois- 

 ture, which, rising from the bodies of the bees, often proves destructive to the stock. 



